Met police to look again at No 10 Christmas quiz after prosecco photo | Boris Johnson
Scotland Yard has said it will look again at a quiz held in Downing Street in December 2020, after a new photo emerged of Boris Johnson at the event, featuring an open bottle of prosecco and staff wearing tinsel.
The image published by the Daily Mirror shows the prime minister with two members of staff, including his deputy principal private secretary, Stuart Glassborow, at the event on 15 December, which No 10 has said was a virtual quiz.
Asked at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday if the Metropolitan police should add this to the events they are investigating, Johnson said the allegation was “completely in error”.
However, the Met later issued a statement saying they would reexamine the event in the light of the new picture.
“The Metropolitan Police Service previously assessed this event and determined that on the basis of the evidence available at that time, it did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation. That assessment is now being reviewed,” the statement said.
At the time the photo was taken, London was under tier 2 restrictions, which banned social mixing between households. The government had explicitly told people they must not meet for Christmas parties.
Johnson was challenged about the image at PMQs by the Labour MP Fabian Hamilton, who said: “It looks a lot like one of the Christmas parties he told us never happened.”
Citing the case of a constituent who was unable to have family visit her in hospital when she was being treated for a tumour, Hamilton asked if Johnson would refer the event to police for investigation.
Johnson replied by expressing his sympathy for the constituent, saying: “I understand very much her feelings. But in what he has said just, I am afraid, he is completely in error.”
Asked again at PMQs about the photo, Johnson replied: “That’s precisely the point. That event already has been submitted for investigation.”
The Met police are already examining potential law-breaking at 12 gatherings in Downing Street, three of which Johnson is known to have attended. A fourth event, in his Downing Street flat, is also under investigation and the prime minister has declined to say whether he was in attendance.
But the event on 15 December, which was a virtual quiz for staff, was not among those gatherings referred to the Met police and Johnson insinuated they had already seen the evidence before making the decision.
The police said they had been handed more than 300 photographs of events in Downing Street and 500 pages of evidence. A full report from the Cabinet Office official Sue Gray, who was asked to investigate the rule-breaking, is also expected to be released once the police work is concluded.
The former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings, now a fierce critic of Johnson, said further pictures would soon emerge. “There’s waaaaay better pics than that floating around, incl[uding] in the flat,” he tweeted.
“The pics will come out and the public will think ‘Met [police] lying’, not ‘oh PM innocent after all’. Penny dropping with MPs.”
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The new picture came to light hours after sources suggested Johnson did not intend to resign if he was given a fixed penalty notice by police, though MPs could trigger a vote of no confidence.
Mark Spencer, the former chief whip who has been moved to be leader of the House of Commons, told the BBC on Wednesday that most people had “had a drink” during lockdown. “I think clearly people were having a drink,” Spencer told BBC Radio Nottingham. “I’ve done that. I’ve had a drink of alcohol during Covid.
“I think in the middle of an investigation it’s really difficult to get your story and your defence across because you’re not allowed to, because the police are investigating it. Once they’ve done that, once the facts are known, I think we’ll be in a much better place to talk this through.
“The prime minister apologised at the dispatch box. It’s fair to say that Downing Street didn’t get everything right but let’s focus on the real world here. People are worried about their jobs, people are worried about the NHS.”
Separately, Scotland Yard said officers would not launch an investigation into allegations that MPs seeking to remove Boris Johnson from No 10 had been blackmailed, after concerns were raised by Conservative MP William Wragg.
In a statement, the Met said it had determined that “no criminal offences have been identified and therefore no investigation will be commenced,” adding: “Should further significant information become available it will be considered.”
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